It has long been a goal of orthopeadics to identify rapid and effective means and materials for repairing complex tissues, including connective tissues, such as bone and cartilage, due to defects caused by, for example, injury, disease, wounds, or surgery. Tissue engineering principles have been utilized in recent years as an approach for such tissue repair and may be a suitable approach even for more complex tissue types.
The general approach to the use of tissue engineering in the repair and/or regeneration of tissue is to combine cells and/or biological factors with a biomaterial that acts as a scaffold for tissue development. The cells should be capable of propagating on the scaffold and acquiring the requisite organization and function in order to produce a properly functioning tissue. Such cells might include mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) which are adult stem cells that are thought, due to their proliferative capacity and ability, to differentiate based on environmental cues into various connective tissue lineages, including bone and cartilage, and could be used in combination with engineered biomaterials for more complex tissue reconstructions, such as connective tissues like bone and/or cartilage. In addition, the biomaterials for use in such tissue engineering approaches might include certain “smart” biomaterials which may optimally imitate the natural organization and/or properties of a complex tissue sought to be repaired or regenerated.
Innovative technologies are needed for tissue engineering of inherently complex tissues, and in particular, musculoskeletal connective tissue such as articular cartilage and the underlying bone tissue. Accordingly, compositions and methods that are capable of inducing bone and/or cartilage growth and repair are provided herein.